I spent 9 years as Beauty & Wellbeing Director at wonderful, inclusive, thinking woman’s monthly, Psychologies magazine. One of my proudest achievements was the creation of the holistic #360me section, which moved away from the typical commercial magazine’s interest in new ‘stuff’, toward a deeper, intuitive, integrative look at our health. As part of this, and as a result of 18 years in the beauty industry, from my first gig as a Vogue Beauty Intern, to Beauty Director at Psychologies, 10 years later, I have always been fascinated by the beauty industry. It’s why I introduced the Real Natural Beauty Awards while at Psychologies, and why I hope to be able to continue to bear the torch of thoughtful, transparent, effective & beautiful all-natural beauty here, throughout GLOW, and the journal.

Perhaps because I was always the editor to ask those tougher questions, or perhaps because I trained as a holistic facial therapist, so that I could honestly put my money where my mouth (and skin) was, or perhaps because I spent years studying INCI lists, and teaching myself the difference between what is ostensibly ‘natural’ and what just masquerades as such, my interest in the very best natural products – as honest and expertly formulated as they were efficacious – grew and grew. I still feel very proud of the stance we took at Psychologies, and of the piece I penned below when we first launched the awards. I hope you enjoy it. It’s really just the beginning of what will be a regular series of honest reviews and edits – a blend of the best things that not only I adore and know to work, but that my holistic facial therapy clients have also come to fall in love with, and trust.

Natural – what does it mean?

Natural. Naturally Derived. Of Natural Origin. Organic. Non Toxic. Clean. Conscious. Eco. Green. What do these words MEAN when it comes to the products you are investing your hard-earned money, and trust, in? When you walk into a store, or browse online, we hope to find something that will repay  our investment – offering a wholly transparent, pleasurable and efficacious experience, to boot. But, the beauty world has always been notoriously wooly – there is nothing stopping anyone from inventing their own terminology, and when it comes to things such as perfume, it is perfectly legal to sell bottles of the stuff with not the first idea about what is in them (protected as they are, by intellectual property laws, which enable the juice’s ingredients to be kept a ‘trade secret’). 

Anyone can call their products ‘natural’ too – it is a wholly unregulated term, sadly – and really does mean that you could be buying something that is full of cheap, questionable and synthetic chemicals, but that simply has a diminutive dash of natural essential oil thrown in, for tokenistic measure. Thankfully, the rising tide of interest in ethical living has led to more and more consumers questioning what actually goes into their products. Change never begins at the top though – it takes a huge consumer movement to apply enough pressure to get biggest corporations to wake up and become accountable (and they tend to do so, only when they know that there is money to be made from change). 

This is happening, right now, with consumer appetite for not just ‘real natural’ products growing exponentially. 79% of consumers say that they’re more likely to buy a product is it is certified organic (source: Professional Beauty 2020); 91% of British consumers now want less packaging with their products; 88% want to be able to refill their cosmetics; but 1 in 5 don’t know how to check their product’s sustainability credentials, and 1 in 3 don’t understand the ingredients being used (source: British Beauty Council Sustainable Beauty Coalition, July 2021). Along with our awareness of whether or not our products are natural, we also consider if they are vegan, sustainably packaged, biodegradable, refillable or recyclable, and ethical throughout their production line too. 

For the first time in our modern social history, almost all of the big beauty giants are paying attention, and almost all have implemented sustainability charters and more transparent communications for their own products. For you and me, though – and those of us who simply want to buy beautiful products that are a real pleasure to use, safe in the knowledge that they are free of harmful ingredients – we must continue to do a lot of our own legwork. Hence, why I take this all pretty seriously. Not only am I incredibly stringent in my own selection processes (for the magazines I work for, and here, at the blog & in my own personal life), but it’s also crucial to me that we support only the best brands, without being paid or sponsored to do so.

In my role at Psychologies I felt incredibly proud to celebrate brands across the board, from tiny one-woman/man operations to largest companies blazing their sustainable trails – as tested and selected by our industry expert panelists. I launched the ‘Real Natural Awards’ because there was no greenwashing involved. Almost all of the products I use at home are 100% natural. This is different from naturally derived, which means that though the original source of the product may be natural e.g. coconut, the ingredient then goes through any number of chemical processes to make it into another ingredient. It’s a sketchy term – imagine taking an organic apple and using a chemical solvent to extract part of it, then a synthetic preservative to extend its shelf-life it, then additional synthetic chemicals to get it to behave as you want it to, before presenting it to someone as a ‘naturally derived apple.’ I, therefore, avoid ‘naturally derived’ aside from those products that are almost entirely natural already, but may use one or two safe ‘naturally derived’ preservatives, which are deemed safe and of the lowest possible risk by EWG.org, and two other very helpful consumer beauty apps, Think Dirty and Skin Ninja (I highly recommend you download them to your phone – the barcode scanners which cross-check the product’s ingredients are just brilliant). 

There are also certifying bodies, such as NATRUE, COSMOS and The Soil Association, who operate widely within the EU. The US have their own regulatory bodies, overseen by the FDA, which is nowhere near as stringent as ours: 1,328 chemicals are banned from cosmetic usage or sale in the EU, while only 11 are off limits in the US (source: safecosmetics.org). These official ‘stamps’ and labels really can count for a lot – not least of all because companies have to heavily invest in going through the certification procedure, which is costly and lengthy. But, they are not the whole story. Many little guys simply cannot afford certification – but this does not mean that their products are less pure, natural or safe. And, by that same token, simply because a product is natural, does not mean that it is immediately elevated to the holy grail of cosmetics. Some naturals do not perform well at all – they are poorly formulated, might be inexpertly preserved (thereby oxidising, which if applied to skin, can be both irritating and prematurely ageing), or are simply not suited to your own skin (some essential oils can be extremely irritating to some, while others might flourish when using them).

Everything is subtlety and individuality – one size can never fit all. What we can trust, however, is that by making a conscious decision to avoid products that contain questionable ingredients, from non-biodegrading sulphates, to endocrine-disrupting phthalates, we are choosing to support brands who care about these things too. We are also raising awareness of the murkier sides of the cosmetics industry, and entirely boycotting those ingredients that come from the notoriously polluting petrochemical industry (petroleum jelly, petrolatum, mineral oil), and saying, collectively, that we will have no part in that, thank you very much. Here, instead, we understand that we are the product of our choices. And we want those choices to be kind, ethical and safe. In that we really can trust.

I hope that over the course of my next series of posts, here and across my social media, that I can help you navigate this hugely complicated overly green-washed area of consumer choice.

Emine x